little boxes all the same
by memorysdaughter
Summary: Post 3x06. Daisy reacts to seeing the ATCU's facility. Things go wrong. Coulson tries to make amends. Skoulson-ish. One-shot.


**A/N:** I couldn't handle the scene in 3x06 where Daisy sees the Inhuman man in the box. I had so many conflicting feelings and I was stunned. The idea that certain people should be kept away from everyone else, waiting for a "cure," resonates with me in several ways, so deep that I had to step back and take a few deep breaths.

And then I wrote a thing. And the thing turned into Skoulson (if you squint) at the end, which I've never done before. Feelings are weird.

* * *

Her heart races, watching Coulson and that dragon lady as they walk off down the corridor. They're heading for… the wherever they took that man – that _Inhuman_ – in the box.

Her stomach twists and before she knows what's happening, she shoves the van door open and leans out, gagging and retching, her stomach expelling its contents without her approval. Her head throbs and suddenly she can hear the pulsing from the Monolith's machine again, rising like a wail in her skull.

She turns back to Mack. "Why?" she whispers, her voice wobbly and horrified. " _Why?"_

"I don't know," he says evenly. "But we'll figure it out."

"Coulson… he's…"

The pulsing gets louder and she clutches her head.

"He's not okay with this, Tremors," Mack says. "I promise."

She shakes her head, making pain ricochet through it like fireworks trapped in a garbage can. "You can't promise…"

She feels like she's going to vomit again. That man, in that box, kept suspended and monitored, totally unaware of what was happening. No one was there to guide him. No one would treat him with kindness, explain things, or try to help him – he was completely alone.

 _Does he have any idea what happened to him?_ she wonders. _How much time did he have before the ATCU swept in and captured him? Did he realize he could have been magnificent?_

"Easy, Tremors," she hears Mack say, and she whips her head around. The pain goes up to eleven and she sees fear in Mack's eyes.

"What?"

It takes her a minute to realize the van is rocking, the ground under it rumbling. For the first time in a long time she can't control her gift. It's leaking out of her; if it was visible it'd be like tears, or blood, drenching her body, running down her arms and pooling at her feet. She's felt helpless and she's felt rage, but never both at the same time, not like this. She clenches her fists, trying to get the quaking to stop.

The pain pinches her neck and shoots down her spine, floods down her arms and into her hands. It hurts like hell and she can't figure out where everything went so wrong.

"Take a breath," Mack says steadily. Considering the circumstances, considering that she hasn't completely lost it like this in a long time, he sounds way too calm. "Come on, Tremors – look at me."

She can't. She's lost. She's seeing that orange gel, that helpless man.

"That could be me," she grits out. "That could be…"

" _Daisy_ ," Mack says, a little sharper. "You have to get control."

"Or what?" she demands. "Or you'll give me to Price, put me in a box, lock me away?"

Mack exchanges a glance with Hunter.

"No one's saying that," Hunter says.

She feels the quake rise up her arms, like bees or bubbles of acid, and she can't get it to stop.

"Tell us how to help you," Mack says. His voice is still low and steady, but it's a definite plea. "Tell us what we can do."

Her head spins. She can't get the image of that man out of her head. How many more does Price have? How many warehouses are full of the people she was supposed to protect? The people she's responsible for now, now that Jiaying is gone?

"I didn't want this," she croaks.

"We'll figure it out," Mack promises.

"We can't." She shakes her head, tears of anguish and despair rising to her eyes. "We can't. Monsters…"

Something snaps in her hands, or her arms – the pain's too big and she can't think clearly.

The van rocks side to side, landing each time with a definite _crash_ of metal and jolting equipment.

"There are no monsters," Hunter says. "'Cept for that Lash guy, but he'll get…"

Mack glares at Hunter.

"I have to… I have to…" She can't get the words out.

She has to fix this.

She shoves herself out of the van, transferring the quakes from the van to the ground below her. She feels everything now, bubbles popping, bees stinging, head throbbing; she staggers like a drunk away from the van.

"Daisy!" Mack calls after her.

The ground fissures and splits. She wobbles on her feet. It's growing.

She raises a hand, _pushes_. The razor wire jostles itself free from the fence, the fence peels back like embroidery split by a machete.

" _Daisy!"_ Mack yells. "You have to stop!"

"I'll stop when _she_ stops," she mutters. She's honed in on her target. _Price_. She has to get to Price, has to remove her from the equation, has to _show_ her –

A car in the parking lot before her tumbles like a toy. The lights in the security towers blow.

The pain, the bees and the acid, the Monolith's pulse, builds in her chest, in her ribs and her sternum, like a cage for everything she's going to let out.

She feels more than sees Mack behind her; blasts out a quake to keep him away from her. She _has_ to.

(Later, she'll realize it wasn't Mack. It was Hunter, and he was a decoy.)

Blue light clouds her vision and she drops where she stands.

The world settles around her.

* * *

"Back so soon?" Mack asks Coulson. "Did you enjoy your visit to the ATCU?"

There's something off about Mack's tone. Coulson frowns at him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Did you find out what they're doing to Inhumans?"

"Is there something you'd like to ask me, Mack?"

"No. But Daisy's pissed."

Coulson tries to process this. "About…?"

Mack shakes his head. "I'm sure you can ask her when she wakes up."

"Wakes up? Where is she?"

"In medical." With that, Mack strides away.

* * *

"Daisy," Simmons says gently. "Daisy, can you open your eyes?"

Daisy opens her eyes and immediately squints, trying to get her hands up to cover her eyes. The lights are awfully bright. Pain pulses through her eyes and she squeezes them closed.

"Good. I'm glad you can hear me," Simmons says. "Bobbi, can you dim the lights a bit?"

"Wha'… wha' happen'd?" Daisy slurs. Her mouth isn't working right.

She opens her eyes again, the lights blissfully less bright, to see Simmons sitting next to her, lips pursed. "I don't know," Simmons says. "Mack and Hunter brought you back in here unconscious."

Daisy senses there's more.

"You were bleeding from the ears and you've fractured both your arms again," Simmons goes on. "Now, I think there's two possible explanations – either you lost control of your powers or you were involved in some sort of illegal boxing ring."

 _Boxing. Box._

"Price," Daisy spits out.

"What?"

" _Roz_ ," she says sarcastically. "Coulson's new BFF."

"What about her?"

"She's keeping Inhumans. In boxes. In some sort of warehouse facility." Daisy finds the words spilling out of her mouth, definitely flowing more freely. "What gives her the _right…?"_

"Slow down," Simmons says. "Your heart rate just jumped up and I don't want you to pass out."

She fetches a bottle of water from the table next to her and hands it to Daisy. "Drink some of this, then we'll talk."

"Actually, Simmons, I think I'd like to do the talking," Coulson says.

Daisy pushes herself upright. "I don't think I want to hear it."

"And I don't think you have a choice," Coulson retorts. "Agent Simmons, you are dismissed for the moment."

"Um, thank you? Sir?" Simmons is definitely flustered; she gets to her feet and hurries away.

"Here to put me in a box?" Daisy asks, glaring at Coulson.

He just blinks at her, calm and cool and collected – just like he was watching that man be taken off into God knows where to experience God knows what at the hands of God knows who.

"I mean, we're clearly just expendable. Something to be crammed into a box and shelved away. Get us away from the populace, we'll pillage your cities and burn your crops and steal your women!" Daisy waves her hands sarcastically, then scoffs. "We're just monsters to you. Trophies, to earn points with _Roz_."

Again Coulson says nothing.

"I thought I could trust you. I thought you understood how important it is for me to protect these people. These Inhumans. _My_ people. Or did you forget that too? They are _my_ responsibility now. _I_ caused this, this is _my_ fault, and I have to protect them. From people like _Roz_."

She breaks off midsentence, overcome with self-hatred. She lets out a muffled sob, bringing her hand to her mouth, pressing her fist against her lips.

When Coulson speaks, she can hear emotion in his voice, a tremor that wasn't there when he came in. "This was _not_ your fault."

"It was," she whispers.

"My God," he breathes. "Have you been thinking that all this time?"

"How could I _not?"_ Daisy wails at him. " _I_ was the one who pushed the plane into the ocean…"

"You had no way of knowing that's where the crystals were."

"… they got into the water and swirled all over and that simulation…"

"Your mother was hurting you, Sk – _Daisy_. She would have killed you. You made a choice, and it must have been gut-wrenching and terrible, but _you're still here_. And that's all that matters."

Daisy puts her hands over her face, sobbing. Her arms throb; her heart aches for those Inhumans locked away in Price's warehouse, waiting for… waiting for _what?_

She feels Coulson sit down on the bed next to her. When he wraps his arms around her, pulling her towards him, she's close enough to hear his heartbeat.

"You beautiful, wonderful miracle," Coulson says softly. "You broken bird. I am so sorry I let you think that for this long. I'm sorry that I didn't _know_ you felt that way."

Daisy hiccups.

"Do you know how many you saved that day?" Coulson continues. "You saved all of us. It's not an exaggeration."

"And how many people did I _hurt_ that day? How many left vulnerable? The government calls us monsters, wants to take away every single right we have, and now we're _working_ with people who are _literally_ boxing them up and storing them away," Daisy cries. "Like they're… like they're… _knickknacks_ or something!"

She thinks this is where Coulson will stand up and walk away, tell her he's disgusted by her innocence and naïveté, tell her to think like an operative instead of just a scared young woman.

Instead he pulls her closer. "I don't understand most of this," he says, his voice gentle. "And you don't understand some of this. We don't understand a lot of things related to the ATCU. We have _some_ information, but we need more."

He rocks her back and forth. "We're going to help those people," he promises. "There's no doubt in my mind that's what's best for them."

Daisy closes her eyes.

" _You're_ what's best for them," Coulson says quietly. "And you're best for me, too."


End file.
